Devotion
by XxBlaiddxX
Summary: LingxLanFan, set post-series. Like, really post. Please R&R.     Rated T for blood. Lots of blood.


_**Lots of Linfan. Lots of blood. Hey, what else ya gonna do when you're angry and depressed? **_

_**Have fuuuun! Enjoy all the grammar mistakes and screwed up tenses. ^.^**_

**oooooo**

A tiny cough. A sputter. The girl lifted herself onto her elbow, making a dark streak in the grass. She struggled for air, but felt only warm blood where cool oxygen should have been. She shut her eyes and sank back onto the bank of the stream. The ground was soft and inviting, the tall juniper trees that shrouded her smelling faintly of home. This was a good place to die.

Lan Fan awoke for the second time that day, and quickly shot up. She felt for her kunai. The sharp blade was where it always was. She closed her fingers around the handle, pulling it out of the deep folds of her tunic. Now, at least, she could protect herself. She murmured a tiny prayer of thanks to the gods.

She slipped the kunai into the laces of her protective vest, and cut it away. Despite the life-giving protection it afforded, she knew her body couldn't take the weight of the armor in this condition. She winced, and ground her teeth against the pain as she struggled to her knees. Her automail had been torn messily away, and was nowhere to be seen. Her stump oozed sticky red liquid as she shifted, her pants soaking up more fluid. All throughout she remained silent- though she had been out for hours, she still maintained vigilance, lest her attackers suddenly return.

From her crouched position she rose, mindful of the noise the underbrush made under her feet. The brook bubbled happily, expressing a mood she did not share. Her only thoughts concerned her lord, and his safety, or lack thereof. She would not allow herself to believe the worst. He was too foolish, too stubborn, and too strong to be taken out by mere bandits.

She stepped lightly though the forest, making her way back to the main road. She tried to ignore the blood dripping from the freshly opened wounds on various parts of her body. It was unavoidable, really. Her heart beat faster and faster, and her injuries responded, her life-force draining into the dirt faster than she wanted.

She stopped suddenly and hacked, the red fluid she was learning to loath staining the grass a bright crimson. She did not know much about medical matters, but she knew that that was bad. Very bad. She wiped it away with her sleeve and trudged forward, her goal firmly in front of her. She couldn't die.

Not yet.

**oooooo**

He saw her before she saw him. He smiled weakly. Of course she wasn't dead. She was nearly impossible to kill. Someone like her...has nine lives. Someone like her wouldn't stop. He laughed to himself, as he remembered throwing the philosopher's stone into the rushing currents of that Amestrian river. Lan Fan had watched him quietly, never questioning his actions. He had surprised himself, but knew that it was the best this way. He knew what sort of person one became when in control of that stone. He would not put his people through that. He had become emperor despite his mortality, and a cruel twist of fate had brought him to this place.

He watched as she spotted him, panic plain against her face as she broke into a run. There she was, covered in her own blood, and yet all she could think about was her job. Her sworn duty. What place did oaths have when death knocked?

**oooooo**

She gathered him gently into her arm, cradling him to her chest as best she could. "My lord. Do not leave this world. Please." Her tears spilled onto his face, mingling with his own before sliding away. He raised a hand to her face and touched it fondly.

"I am not worth your tears. Cry for yourself, Lan Fan."

"I fail my grandfather. I fail all my ancestors." She tightened her grip on him. "I...fail...you." She let out a sobbing scream, the pain inside far greater than the physical.

Ling grabbed her trembling chin and forced her to look into his eyes. "Look at me. You have _never_ failed me. You are my shadow. My constant. That has, and will never, _never,_ change." He stroked her dirty, matted hair. "In the next life, you will be my bride." She laughed softly, with a hint of bitterness and a sob.

"Foolish lord." Her strength gave out, and she let him slip onto the ground. She laid beside him, chest heaving as each breath became more of a struggle. She rested her head on his breast, listening closely to each slowing heartbeat. "I...I would like that."

**oooooo**

_**Yup. I did it. I killed 'em. But they went out the way I think they both would want to- together. D'aww. As for WHAT the heck they were doing there...idk! You tell me. I hope you thought it was worth reading. Or maybe not. Either way, please review it! Even if it's just a couple of words, I still appreciate it. ^.^**_


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